How To Learn Hindi

If you are interested in how to learn Hindi, you have several options.  You might take a university course, find a class in a commercial language school, hire a private tutor or engage in a self-study program, such as an online Hindi course.  Or you might simply travel to India to immerse yourself in the language.  There are advantages and disadvantages of each approach.   Here are some things to consider when you are pondering how to learn Hindi. 

One of the best ways to study any language is in a university language course.  The instruction at the university level is always given by an instructor who is very fluent and sometimes even a native speaker.  You usually have a support structure, such as a language lab and a regularly scheduled conversation hour.  But of course you may not have access to a university course if you are not an enrolled student.  Moreover, only a few American universities offer a Hindi program.  And it goes without saying that higher education is very expensive.  So, although a university Hindi course may be the best option, it may not be a realistic choice for you.

If you are not a university student, or don’t have a university in your area that offers a Hindi program, you might consider a commercial language school.  The best language schools set a high standard for the competency of their instructors.  Since class sizes are usually relatively small, students get a lot of individual attention.  But ordinarily, commercial schools don’t offer a language lab.  In fact, when audio materials are available on CD or tape, they are usually an additional cost to the tuition, and quite expensive.  Commercial language schools aren’t available in every location.  Even if they are available, Hindi may not be a language that they offer.  If you do find a language school in your area that offers a Hindi course, chances are the tuition is quite high, possibly out of reach.

A private tutor may be available in your area.  You should use caution choosing a tutor, though.  Merely because someone speaks a language, even as a native language, does not mean that the person can teach the language.  You’ll also want to evaluate the course materials, so that you have a structured approach and written and audio resources available to you between tutoring sessions.  Of course, tutors can be costly.  Furthermore, you’ll need to purchase the course materials, too.

Some people would want to just jump right in and catch a flight to India.  An immersion course in India could be exciting.  Or it could be harrowing.  It seems only reasonable that the best way to approach an immersion Hindi course in India is to prepare before you go by studying spoken and written Hindi.  The better course of action is to use an immersion course to strengthen your skills, not to introduce you to the language.

In many respects, an online Hindi course is your best choice.  You don’t need to be enrolled in a university.  An online course is substantially less costly than a commercial language school or a private tutor.  You can use the online course to supplement your learning with a tutor or a private class if you like.  And certainly, working through an online Hindi course is appropriate preparation if you are going to study Hindi in India.  An online Hindi course affords you the luxury of studying at your pace and on your schedule.  The better online courses offer instruction in both written and spoken Hindi.  The best also provide interactive games, quizzes and other creative approaches to learning to break up the routine of language study and to offer you a broad array of learning opportunities.  A Hindi course that is simply superior to the rest will have a members-only learning forum for students to ask questions, converse and build community with other Hindi students and teachers.

Of course, my recommendation for an online Hindi course is Rocket Hindi.

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You are smart to be studying how to learn Hindi.  Hindi is spoken by millions of people and is one of the official languages of India.  With India’s importance increasing globally, and business between the US and India constantly increasing, any business person or business student with an interest in an international career would be wise to learn Hindi.  A systematic approach to learning Hindi, and a diligent application of that plan, is your best option for how to learn Hindi.

This article will give you some basic facts about Hindi grammar.

1. Word order.  In Hindi, verbs generally go at the end of the sentence.  The structure of a typical sentence is subject first, then object, then verb.  Furthermore, Hindi doesn’t have prepositions.  Rather, it has postpositions, words that follow the noun or phrase that they modify.
   
2. Articles.  Hindi does not use definite or indefinite articles.  For clarity or emphasis, the number “one” can be used in place of an indefinite article.
3. Gender.  Hindi uses two genders, masculine and feminine.  As with other languages that use gender, men, boys and male animals are masculine while women, girls and female animals are feminine.  Inanimate objects and concepts are either masculine or feminine depending on convention.  On the other hand, the third person singular pronoun does not have a gender.  So, instead of using “he” or “she,” Hindi uses a pronoun that could be translated “this one.” 
   
4. Verbs.  Hindi verbs agree with the noun both in number and in gender.  Hindi uses the past, present, future and subjunctive tenses.  Hindi verbs also show aspect, depending on whether an action is habitual, progressive or perfective.
5. The second person has three verb forms, each of which demonstrates a different level of showing respect by the speaker to the person being addressed.  The first is the formal level of respect, which has both singular and plural forms.  Use this in formal settings or when speaking to someone older or superior in some way.  The second is the informal level, which also has both singular and plural forms.  Use this when speaking to someone younger or to someone who is in some way subordinate.  Then there is an extremely informal form, which only exists in the singular.  Be careful only to use this with a very close friend because it can be considered a slight if used inappropriately.

Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, which is the alphabet in which the sacred texts of Sanskrit were written.  Commas, question marks and exclamation points are used in Hindi as they are in English.  However, instead of a period, you are more likely to see a vertical line at the end of a sentence.

Spoken Hindi shares enough in common with Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, that the two can be considered the same language.  However, Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script.

Of course, this article gives only a very basic overview of the Hindi language.  To learn more, you should take a Hindi course.  Knowing Hindi is an excellent strategy for anyone who has or wants a career in international business, as the importance of India in the global market continues to expand.  India is an increasingly important country financially, culturally and politically.  Consequently, it is more important than ever to determine how to learn Hindi. 

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As a descendant of Sanskrit, the Hindi language has a rich literary tradition.  There are four categories of Hindi literature.  They are:

• Bhakti, meaning devotional literature
• Shringar, standing for beauty
• Veer-Gatha, in which the poet praises brave warriors
• Adhunik, or modernity

The modern state of India recognized its Hindi literary traditions when it established the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Vishwavidyalaya, a university in Wardha, Maharashtra, in order to promote Hindi literature.

The beginnings of Hindi literature date back to the fifteenth century CE.  One of the first examples of Hindi literature was the Prithviraj Raso, a eulogy written by Chand Bardai to memorialize Prithviraj Chauhan, the ruler of Delhi.

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It is wonderful that you are trying to discover how to learn Hindi.  Hindi is spoken as a first language by about a third of the population of India, and is the second language of millions more people.  Since it is one of the official languages of India, it is used in the official communications of that country.  Consequently, it is taught in schools all over the country, even in portions of India in which Hindi is not spoken as a native language.  So working out how to learn Hindi can put you in touch with millions of people in India alone.

In addition to the millions of people in India who speak Hindi, there are millions who speak Urdu, the national language of Pakistan.  As spoken colloquially, Hindi and Urdu are indistinguishable.  They have the same grammar and much of the same vocabulary.  Poetic or very educated vocabulary may differ between the languages and the alphabets differ between the languages.  These differences are due to different influences on the languages.  Hindi retains its chief influence from Sanskrit, its progenitor.  Its written form, the Devanagari script, is the alphabet of Sanskrit and its poetic language is borrowed from Sanskrit.  On the other hand, Urdu reflects the influence of the Perso-Arabic culture.  It is written in the Perso-Arabic script and its poetic language is adopted from Persian and Arabic.

There is not much common vocabulary between Hindi and English.  Consequently, a native English speaker would not be able to recognize many Hindi words on account of their familiarity with English.  On the other hand, the Hindi language is relatively regular in terms of grammar and spelling.  So hard work will bring rewards to any diligent student of Hindi.  Any English speaker should be encouraged to study Hindi. 

Like many European languages (but unlike English), Hindi nouns have gender.  Nouns referring to boys and men and male animals are masculine.  Nouns referring to girls and women and female animals are feminine.  Nouns referring to inanimate objects are masculine or feminine depending solely on convention.  In Hindi, most adjectives agree with the gender of the noun they modify.  Moreover, verbs agree with the gender of their subject.   

In Hindi, the verb goes last in a sentence.  So a common sentence structure contains a subject, an object and a verb, in that order.  In English, we have prepositions that precede a noun; Hindi uses postpositions that follow a noun.  Adjectives precede nouns.  There are no definite or indefinite articles.

Hindi verbs show both tense and aspect.  The tenses show whether an action is past, present and future.  The aspects show whether an action is habitual, progressive or perfective.

Hindi sentences are punctuated with commas, question marks and exclamation points as in English.  However, the use of the period is not very common.  Instead, Hindi employs a vertical line, or a “full stop,” to indicate the end of the sentence.

If spoken Hindi sounds difficult and written Hindi looks incomprehensible to you now, you should know that Hindi, like any other language, can be learned, spoken and understood.  Find a good online Hindi course, set up a systematic study schedule, and apply yourself diligently, and you will be speaking and reading a language spoken by millions of people in India and elsewhere.  Do it.  The goal of speaking Hindi is definitely worth the work involved in how to learn Hindi.

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It can be hard to figure out how to learn Hindi when your schedule is already full.  Learning a language is labor-intensive.  You can’t delegate it.  You have to do it yourself.  You just have to find a way to spend the time.  And learning Hindi requires learning a new alphabet, too.  Between work, family and other activities, it’s hard to find the time to fit your Hindi studies into your day.  Although learning a language always takes a lot of time and work, there are ways to multi-task.  Here are some tips for how to learn Hindi when you are too busy to learn a language.

Invest in an online Hindi course.  Online self-study courses are a busy person’s dream.  With no class schedules or deadlines, you can work at your own pace when your schedule permits.  You can repeat a class.  You can take the materials with you when you travel.  You can do a class at midnight or 6:00 AM or Sunday afternoon if you want.  The best online Hindi courses accommodate different learning styles, offering audio instruction, written instruction, interactive quizzes, vocabulary-building games and other creative learning techniques.  The very best have “virtual teachers” through a members-only forum.  They are far less expensive than a one-on-one tutor would be, and they are always there for you, whenever your schedule suits it.  For a busy person, an online Hindi course is the best choice for how to learn Hindi.

Down with Lady Gaga; up with Hindi.  Download the audio files from your Hindi course onto your MP3 player.  Do a couple of lessons and some fun stuff, like songs or dialogs.  That way, you can carry the course instruction with you.  When you would otherwise listen to music, listen to your Hindi course instead.  Study your Hindi lessons on the subway, in the laundromat, in the dentist’s waiting room, or anyplace else that you have a couple of minutes to spare. 

Write your shopping list in Hindi.  Do you write a daily list of things to do?  How about a shopping list?  Write it in Hindi.  If you are just beginning, you can write the English word using the Devanagari alphabet.  It’s a good way to practice Hindi writing.  After you have enough vocabulary, you can write the lists in Hindi words.  Practicing your Hindi vocabulary and writing skills while you are doing your daily tasks — now, that’s global multi-tasking.

Turn housework into homework.  Sometimes learning a language simply requires some memorization.  It may be boring and time-consuming, but spending the time to really learn your Hindi lessons pays off.  So fit it in when you have something mindless to do.  Loading the dishwasher?  Practice your verb conjugations.  Mopping the floor?  Quiz yourself on genders.  Vacuuming?  Recite your dialogs to yourself.  Out loud.  No one will hear over the noise the vacuum makes.  Mowing the lawn?  Well, you get the idea.

Sometimes it’s the busiest people who want to learn a language.  It’s people who travel for business or personal reasons.  People who want to succeed in their careers badly enough to do what others can’t be bothered to do.  People who are so intellectually curious that they want to learn everything.  Have no fears.  Busy people can find the time to learn a language, too.  Just be creative and adaptable and you will find the time.  The tips outlined above will help you find how to learn Hindi, even though you are so very, very busy. 

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Learning a language takes a lot of work over a long period of time, and your efforts in how to learn Hindi probably won’t be any different.  You might start your Hindi course with a lot of enthusiasm, but keeping your momentum over time takes work.  Here are some tips for you to keep yourself motivated in your efforts how to learn Hindi.

Start by thinking that you can do it.  You learned English.  And you learned to read and write the Roman alphabet, starting from a time when the letters just looked like marks on a page.  You may speak other languages, too, and you may have learned other alphabets.  Each language that you learned opened doors to communication with people and to learning that would be impossible otherwise.  You can succeed in your Hindi course, too, and have the same reward of unique communication and learning.

Take the “slow but steady” approach.  Don’t try to learn too much in one sitting, or one day, or one week.  Break your learning plan into smaller, easily doable chunks.  Don’t forget to review frequently.  You will accomplish much more lasting learning that way.  And you won’t be overwhelmed by a long stretch of study or a long list of items to master.  The best way how to learn Hindi is to give yourself a regular schedule, including homework.  Plan to study Hindi at a regular time, such as for an hour after dinner.  Then, later, do your self-assigned “homework.”  For example, you could use fifteen minutes of your lunch break the next day to review the new skills you studied the night before.  Look over the grammar and vocabulary lessons that you have already studied, quiz yourself on your verb conjugations or practice your writing skills.

Think outside the classroom box.  One of the best things about studying languages is that you get to read and understand media that you wouldn‘t otherwise.  For example, you will be able to read and understand Hindi newspapers online, or enjoy a Bollywood movie.  Although you need to pay attention to your Hindi course materials, don’t limit yourself to them.  Embrace Hindi language materials online, on screen or by podcast, or in any other way that you can find them.  Seek out Hindi-speaking friends and have conversations with them that you can only have because you are learning their language.  What a great way how to learn Hindi!

Set short-term and intermediate goals.  You have set the admirable long-term goal of completing a Hindi course.  But don’t forget to set shorter-term goals, too.  For one thing, you will meet them faster.  For another thing, you will be able to recognize the accomplishments that you have made, and that will motivate you to work toward the next goal.

Reward yourself for reaching your goals.  Give yourself a treat for reaching all your goals, including the small, short-term ones.  Enjoy a Hindi movie or video, invite your friends over for an Indian meal or take yourself out to an Indian restaurant. 

Of course, the best reward for tackling your Hindi course is that, when you are done, you will be able to speak Hindi.  So, in addition to setting your short-term goals, keep that over-arching goal in mind.  You are working at how to learn Hindi.   What an adventure that is!

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If you are trying to figure out how to learn Hindi phonology, there is little that I can explain to you in a written blog post.  You should refer to your Hindi course materials to listen to the audio files to learn the different sounds.  But there are a few things that you can read about with respect to Hindi phonology.  They will help you in your efforts how to learn Hindi.

As in other languages, the vowels have long and short sounds.  In addition, Hindi vowels can also be nasalized.  A nasalized vowel is indicated by a dot over the letter.

There are two ways of writing each vowel.  The dependent version is the version of the letter used when it follows a consonant.  The independent version of the letter is used when a vowel begins a word or follows another vowel.

In Hindi, consonants can be either aspirated or unaspirated and either dental or retroflex.  For example, the dental “t” sound is pronounced with the tongue touching the roof of the mouth and the back of the teeth.  This is further forward along the palate than the sound is made in English.  The retroflex “t” sound is pronounced with the tongue touching the roof of the mouth farther back on the palate than in English.  An aspirated consonant is pronounced with an audible expulsion of breath.  No breath is heard when an unaspirated consonant is pronounced. 

Learning languages requires careful listening and imitation to vowel and consonant sounds.  Take the time to listen to the audio materials in your Hindi course.  If you are taking a university course, go to the language lab.  If you are taking an online Hindi course, listen to your audio files. 

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The worldwide web has made the world smaller and made the question of how to learn Hindi easier to answer.  There are a lot of resources available on the internet that will make your study of Hindi easier.  If you are creative in finding and using them, it will make your efforts in studying Hindi more fun.  Here are a list of suggestions for how to learn Hindi on the internet.

Find Hindi podcasts and videos.  Do a Google search for podcasts and videos.  Some of the search results will be aimed at teaching Hindi as a second language.  On the other hand, you will also find results that are aimed at people who already have a level of proficiency in Hindi and just want to enjoy the music video or a radio talk show in Hindi.  Look for all of these resources.  If you spend time and attention with them, you will learn Hindi vocabulary, usage and grammar.  Just as importantly, however, you will learn a lot about Indian culture.

Become a Bollywood movie fan.  “Bollywood” refers to the Hindi-language film industry centered in Mumbai.  It is a very active segment of the Indian film industry and there are a lot of Bollywood movies produced yearly.  In the United States, you can get them on DVD or computer download from Netflix and Blockbuster, as well as finding them elsewhere online.  Watching Bollywood movies not only lets you know how to learn Hindi, it also instructs you on current Indian fads and fashions.  Since Bollywood movies are usually musicals, studying the films gives you an entree into studying Hindi language songs.  It can be challenging to understand song lyrics even when you speak the language a little, but learning a song can give you a memory hook for the contents.  Just think of how many people still sing the “ABC Song” to themselves when they alphabetize their files.

Set up a conversation group on Skype.  The best way to learn a language is to speak it.  And that requires you to form a community of Hindi-language speakers.  If you are taking a class in a university or a language school, you already have a Hindi-speaking community.  But if you are studying Hindi by yourself, you need to reach out to find them.  Use Twitter and Facebook to find interested Hindi students, then set up a weekly conversation hour on Skype or a free conference call service, so that you can all chat, make friends all over the world, and practice your Hindi.  

Take an online Hindi course.  Once you have decided to learn Hindi,  what steps can you take to accomplish your goal?  You may be lucky enough to be enrolled in a university with a Hindi program.  Or perhaps you live in a town that has a language school that offers a Hindi course.  Maybe you have found a Hindi tutor for private lessons.  Or maybe not.  Finding a Hindi course is not that easy in most parts of the United States.  A great alternative to a live class is a good online Hindi course.  With an online Hindi course, you will get systematic instruction in vocabulary, grammar and usage.  With the best, you will also get interactive quizzes and games and even a forum for online communication with teachers and other students.  Online courses are also significantly less expensive than other language-learning alternatives.  So an online Hindi course may be a great advantage to you in your efforts how to learn Hindi.

In the age of the internet, we have options for language learning that didn’t exist in the past.  Take advantage of them now.  Go online and you will find a lot of helpful resources for how to learn Hindi.

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You may be trying to discover how to learn Hindi in fun and different ways.  Homework and practice is good and helpful, but maybe you want a change of pace.  Fortunately for all of us, there’s Bollywood!  Watching a Bollywood movie is an adventuresome exercise in how to learn Hindi.

Bollywood refers to the Hindi-language film industry that is centered in Mumbai.  The word is a mix of “Bombay,” as Mumbai was called until 1995, and, of course, “Hollywood.”   The term was first used in the 1970’s, when film production in India was so prolific that it exceeded even the United States.

Bollywood is not to be confused with Tollywood, another term used to describe part of the Indian film industry.  Tollywood is centered in Tollygunge, an area of Kolkata, and produces films in Bengali.  More broadly, Bollywood should not be confused with the Indian film industry taken as a whole, as there are other locations and languages in India in which films are made.

Although Bollywood movies occasionally use some English and some Urdu poetic terms, it is a Hindi-language cinema.  Many Bollywood movies are available on DVD and it is possible to get them through Netflix or Blockbuster.  So almost anyone looking for an original way how to learn Hindi has this resource available.  Does your community have a large Indian or Pakistani population?  An annual film festival?  Or a university with a foreign film program?  If so, you may be able to find Bollywood films on the big screen, at least every once in a while. 

Bollywood films are usually musicals.  Whether a film succeeds at the box office or not can depend on the audience’s reception of the music and dance numbers.  It is typical for a Bollywood movie to use such plot devices as convenient coincidences, the reunification of separated relatives, star-crossed lovers with disapproving parents, love triangles, derring-do, and extreme reversals of fortune.  There are heroes and villains.  There is action, romance, comedy, farce and melodrama.  In fact, Bollywood movies are such a mixture of so many elements that they are sometimes referred to a “masalas,”  the term used to describe the spice mixture that is such a significant element in Indian cooking.  Of course, it takes time for all those musical numbers, plot twists and complicated interpersonal relationships to unfold.  A Bollywood film generally runs three hours and has an intermission. 

As time passes, Bollywood movies are incorporating more Western elements in their plots.  For example, instead of depicting young adults entering into arranged marriages, some films are showing young singles dating and enjoying the nightlife.

Watching Bollywood movies is fun.  One way or another, they should be accessible to most people in the United States.  It’s a great way to hear dialogue spoken rapidly, hear the rhythm of spoken Hindi, get a flavor of the culture and fashions of India and have an entertaining evening all at the same time.  And watching movies, watching television and listening to radio are effective ways to learn any language.  So use Hindi-language films as a resource as you work out your plan for how to learn Hindi.

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One reason to want to know how to learn Hindi is that it is spoken by so many millions of people.  The Indian Constitution sets forth Hindi and English as the two official languages and is one of the 22 languages schedules on the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Consitution.  Hindi is a member of the Indo-Aryan language family.  Some linguists classify Hindi as a dialect continuum rather than a language.  Over 40 percent of Indians speak a Hindi dialect as their native language.  Hindi is spoken mostly in the northern states of India, including Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Haryana. 

Hindi is also spoken outside of India.  Urdu, a language that is mutually intelligible with Hindi in its spoken colloquial form, is the national language of Pakistan.  Standard Hindi and Standard Urdu evolved from the Khari Boli dialect.  Hindi is written in the Devanagari alphabet and borrows some of its literary vocabulary from Sanskrit.  On the other hand, Urdu is written in Perso-Arabic script and borrows some of its vocabulary from Persian.  Hindi and Urdu grammar are identical.  Spoken, colloquial Urdu and Hindi can generally be considered the same language.

A dialect of Hindi is also spoken in Fiji.  Indentured servants who were sent to Fiji from India used Hindi as a lingua franca.  Over time, Hindi evolved with vocabulary and grammar that was adapted to suit the lives of the native Indians living and working in Fiji.  In parts of Fiji in which large numbers of Indians lived, Fijian Hindi, as it is known, came to be spoken by people who were not Indian. 

Of course, Hindi is also spoken in other countries in which native Indians live and continue to speak their mother tongues, even if those countries do not recognize Hindi as a national or official language.  Those countries include the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

A Hindi dialect is the native language of millions of people.  You are doing well by trying to discover the best way how to learn Hindi.

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